Jorge Rafael Videla

Who was Jorge Rafael Videla?

Jorge Rafael Videla was a senior commander in the Argentine Army and dictator of Argentina from 1976 to 1981.

He came to power in a coup d'état that deposed Isabel Martínez de Perón. Two years after the return of a representative democratic government in 1983, he was prosecuted in the Trial of the Juntas for large-scale human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that took place under his rule, including kidnappings or forced disappearance, widespread torture and extrajudicial murder of activists, political opponents as well as their families, at secret concentration camps. An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 political dissidents were killed during this period. Videla was also convicted of the theft of many babies born during the captivity of their mothers at the illegal detention centres and passing them on for illegal adoption by associates of the regime. He was under house arrest until 10 October 2008, when he was sent to a military prison.

Following a new trial, on 22 December 2010, Videla was sentenced to life in a civilian prison for the deaths of 31 prisoners following his coup d'état. On 5 July 2012, Videla was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the systematic kidnapping of children during his tenure. On 17 May 2013, Videla died in the Marcos Paz civilian prison two years after his sentencing, of injuries suffered five days earlier in a fall in the shower.